[Week 24.10] Power of Presence

The signs are everywhere - people crave connection. I am watching so many of my friends make it a point to get out and interact with people in person. My friend Dean Miles makes it a point to spend time onsite with his clients, sometimes a week at a time. Mark C. Thompson makes sure that he meets prospective clients in person so he can be sure they have the right chemistry. Lily Osman is farming because she wants to be more present with nature, a team of people working together, and customers who come to the farm stand. And last week, I went to #nashville for the weekend to visit friends and colleagues. Just the act of being present created the opportunity for wonderful interactions, advancing efforts and thickening relationships that were already deep. The power of being present is all around.

During the pandemic, many of us learned the value of being virtually available. Online video became a lifeline of connection and community. We learned that we could be regularly connected with distributed teams in ways that we never imagined. With the return to the office there is the temptation to think that "hybrid workplace" means "office optional." My experience has been that working together has more value than ever. I don't deny that the ability to work via video call has its advantages, but being present adds literal and figurative dimensions that video will never have. When we are in a room with someone else, we fill the space and time differently, conversations drift and cues are sent and picked up.

Some days I am on back-to-back calls and am depleted by the end. I miss the subtle nuances of face-to-face communication and the energy created by sharing physical space with others. Staring at the screen with few interludes and even less downtime takes its toll. Today water-cooler conversations have morphed into Slack channels, where offhand comments and unplanned banter have been replaced with calculated, timed meetings. I yearn for the days of spontaneous encounters and random collisions of creativity when we used to take breaks and walk around an office and idly chat with other people and hear what they were up to. Or when I used to go out for lunch and discuss ideas in a different setting. Changing venues, varied situations, and having unscheduled conversations seem like a distant memory in the metaverse. Of late, I’ve enjoyed getting the team together to share time and physical space. It’s a pleasure to be present in an environment brimming with life, to have the sheer joy of working alongside others in a shared space.

Presence creates serendipity. A few days ago I saw my friend mort aaronson's son, Jesse Aaronson, sitting at a table at the Tony Awards with his fellow castmates for the Broadway play they are in, Leopoldstadt, which won best play. The way that Jesse found his way into the cast is a great story. Jesse took a job as a reader while the casting director was auditioning actors for the other roles. He was not auditioning, he was reading. But by being present for the reading, he met the playwright and the director. And because he showed up fully and read his lines with heart, they saw his presence and experienced the ways in which he enabled other actors to be better. The power of his presence created the opportunity of a lifetime, his breakout role on Broadway for a Tony award-winning play. Bravo!

In life and leadership, there is exceptional value in showing up. Showing up involves more than just physical attendance, it's about bringing the full weight of your attention, energy, and authenticity to each moment. It’s the difference between merely occupying a role and truly embodying it. It’s a demonstration that we're not only invested in the results, but also in the journey and in the people with whom we are traveling. As we navigate through this new era of hybrid living, leaders are called upon to bridge the digital divide and foster a sense of unity and connection. The power of our presence has never been stronger or more effective. The scarcity of being together that we felt recently has resulted in the premium of personal connection. As leaders, we have the prospect of tapping into the power of deep engagement, fostering a culture where quality of attention trumps quantity of tasks. Ultimately, our consistent, focused presence can serve as a beacon of stability and empathy in a rapidly changing world, empowering those we love and lead to show up fully as well.

With love, gratitude, and wonder.
Scott